“I remember hearing my father tell how, long years ago, when they were living up on the bank of the Ohio, they found a young Indian badly wounded, and took him into their camp to nurse. Some of the settlers, who believed that every Indian was a snake in the grass, wanted to put him to death, but father and uncle had their way, and Blue Jacket’s life was spared.”
“Yes,” added Roger, “and ever afterwards he was the best friend the settlers had. Why, he even followed our parents most of the way down to the Mississippi, when they descended the Ohio River on a flatboat. And then another time, you remember, they won the good will of the great Indian chief, Pontiac, by saving his life.”
“That is a fact, Roger; and he gave them a wampum belt that kept them from the fury of the Indian ever afterwards. Some people may not think it pays to befriend an Indian, but we have been taught differently.”
When the three Indians joined the main column Dick tried to ascertain whether they had been successful in their pursuit of Mayhew, or had met with failure.
He knew it would be folly to try to obtain this information through the wily Frenchman, who, wishing to add to their distress, would very likely boast that the frontiersman had been brought down.
Dick, however, quickly made up his mind that this could not be the case. The sullen manner of the three braves was enough in itself to tell the story of their having been outwitted by Mayhew. Then, besides, if they had slain the hunter they would be shouting of victory and holding up a freshly taken scalp in evidence.
“Depend on it, our friend got away,” Dick told Roger.
“I was thinking that myself,” returned the other, “for they look mad enough to bite a nail in two, if they knew what such a thing was.”
For some little time they marched along steadily. Then the important-looking Indian, who was walking alongside Lascelles, turned, and called out something in his own language.
“Good! we are going to stop at last!” muttered Roger. “I can hear the tinkling of a running brook close by. I hope the water is good and cold, and that they let me drink my fill.”